... speculated
about al-Assad’s attempts to find an alternative to the sanctioned Russia.
Why the UAE?
Ruslan Mamedov:
U.S. and EU Sanctions against Syria
Currently, the United Arab Emirates is the only Arab Gulf nation to have been visited by President Assad ... ... renewed relationship with Damascus enables the Emiratis to more effectively deter or closely monitor the mounting influence of Turkey and Iran in Syria.
The second factor is
ideological
. The UAE’s leadership has
found
an ideological ally in President ...
... CBM prolongation, although this looks less likely in the current circumstances. What can it potentially be?
On Apr. 23 2022, Turkey closed its sky for Russia’s military and civilian aircraft heading for Syria. It did not seriously affect Moscow’s ... ... to turn a blind eye on Damascus re-establishing economic and business ties with the northeastern Syria exempted from the U.S. sanctions;
Russia is always pushing for the lift of unilateral sanctions on Syria;
Moscow might be interested in establishing ...
... otherwise known as HTS (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, associated with al-Qaeda, banned in the Russian Federation).
Humanitarian aid vs. sanctions
Igor Matveev:
Syrian Idlib: What’s Next?
According to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, more than 70% of the ... ... Ankara, Washington and a number of Western countries need to extend the mechanism of cross-border operations in Idlib through Turkey. Syria itself, as well as the states supporting it, including Russia, believe that all the necessary humanitarian aid can ...
... towards Damascus. Thus, the UAE, having restored its official contacts with Syria, resumed the work of its embassy in Damascus, develop cooperation at the level of intelligence services, and outlined business projects. Now, these projects are at risk of sanctions. For the UAE, Damascus is important for several reasons, the most important of which is the regional confrontation with Turkey. An arc of instability across the Mediterranean, in which Turkey and the UAE stand on opposite sides of the barricade, is helping Damascus gain the attention of the Gulf monarchies and regain at least limited regional recognition. The latest escalation ...
... This is a question. The answer to it depends, among other things, on the paradigm of Turkish-EU relations: Will Ankara place its bets on rapprochement with the EU or will it move in the opposite direction? The latter is more likely at this point.
Anti-Turkey sanctions can affect Russia as well. US sanctions for the purchase of S-400 missiles could hurt Russian arms exports although this damage will not be big. Any EU sanctions are important in that they show how Brussels is starting to use this approach.
...
... organisations and individuals, according to the decree, was frozen, and their entry into the United States was prohibited.
Ruslan Mamedov:
Troubled Partners: What Russia and Turkey are Dividing Up in Syria
In other words, despite the limited application, sanctions against Turkey have reached a new institutional level. Now they are regulated by a separate executive order, and US departments can at any time blacklist new individuals and legal entities. Of course, the executive order is reversible. If the president does not ...
... economic cooperation and bringing it to the level of USD 100 billion, the Kremlin stays reluctant in lifting a number of major sanctions on Turkish goods, and Ankara, despite the development of bilateral dialog,
imposed
restrictions on the shipment of ... ... at the High-Level Cooperation Council on March 10, 2017. Apparently Moscow is looking forward to seeing more concessions from Turkey, and the process to normalize of state-to-state dialog is played according to the Russian script. This is perfectly tracked ...
... supplier of food products, Turkey needs to somehow sell its goods. And when direct sales are impossible, the goods move into the “shadow.” This creates additional difficulties both for supervisory bodies and business communities of Russia and Turkey. Lifting the food sanctions as fast as possible is in the best interests of both Turkey and Russia; the latter was forced, within the shortest time possible, to look for new suppliers of foods traditionally purchased from Turkey.
The statement made by the heads of state ...
... out that finally, Russia needs to have a favorable international environment if it intends to modernize itself.
Further, Kortunov noted that the relations between Russia and the major players are not perfect to put it mildly.
“Russia is under sanctions from the US and the European Union,” he said. “Russia has very complicated relations with its neighbors in the West and has a crisis in relations with Turkey.”
These are the top challenges which are typical for any country in the world that is vulnerable to the threat of terrorism, challenges of migration and many have to confront the challenges of climate change and environmental problems, according ...
... make life harder for Moscow ranging from changing its energy import preferences to the Gulf to utilizing its influence over the numerous community of Crimean Tatar descendants in Turkey in ways detrimental to Russia’s interests. As for economic sanctions against Turkey, in the end of the day these sanctions are going to hurt both countries and it would make little sense arguing that the sanctions are more painful to Turks than to Russians.
What both sides could do to start restoring the relationship? Before answering ...
